If the D keeps up the effort they given the last two games we should win. The Saints D has been atrocious. I mean almost as bad as the 2011 Packers D. The offense should score enough to win as long as he D doesn't relapse.

This was more surprising to me than the prediction. I'm encouraged by the last two games in terms of defense, but not yet ready to proclaim the problems fixed.

The pass rush has been outstanding, since the Niners game.
Walden and Perry are giving Matthews more help than he's ever had.
And Dez Moses gives us 4 capable pass rushers.

And all those DBs looked solid against Seattle.

While I am usually of the pessimistic side, I am very confident in this defense. As long as we don't get unfairly hit, again, with injuries, we're gonna be fine. Even with an offense that has been playing like the Browns, we'll be in contention with the defense. Sounds like much of 2010.

That's almost how our defense was last year.
Sproles & Jim Graham, at 5 ft 3 and 6 ft 8 will give us fits.

Sproles has been good, he seems to tear it up early but we abandon him later in games.

Jimmy Graham has 3 Touchdowns but other than that he's been a disappointment so far, A lot of dropped passes coming from him. I don't know if his concentration is down or what, but we need him to keep the chains moving.

And if we needed any more confirmation that this call was wrong. Ed Hochuli himself finally addresses it:

The NFL issued a statement Tuesday in which the league concurred with the replay official's decision not to overturn the ruling of a touchdown. Nowhere in the statement did the league say the initial call was correct.

"We use situations that occur as learning opportunities. Not to be critical, but as learning opportunities," Hochuli said as a disclaimer. "So let's look at the rule."

Hochuli defined a simultaneous catch as one in which four hands secure the football at the same time. It is not a simultaneous catch, he says, if one player has it in mid-air and then another joins him in the act of possessing it.

The player who had possessed the ball first (in the case of Monday's game, Jennings) is the one who should be rewarded with possession.
It also does not matter if the initial grab occurs before the player hit the ground.

"I will tell you I've worked over 450 games in this league. I have never seen a simultaneous catch," Hochuli said. "To get four hands on the ball at the same time is a pretty unusual situation.

"I've seen simultaneous recoveries. That's not uncommon. You un-pile the players, they're going after a loose ball and there are two guys who are completely wrapped around the football, and you have a simultaneous recovery. You're going to give the ball to the offense.
"But a simultaneous catch is a hard thing to have."

He added, "I point that out only because if you're going to call it, be really confident in what you're doing. Do understand that rule that you're going to get four hands on that football at the same time in order to have a simultaneous catch."
Later, while the officials waited for a disconnected Hochuli to rejoin them, they went over the rule again.
"We can rule on simultaneous catches in the end zone. That is reviewable," referee Bill Leavy said. "And the way we would've (ruled Monday) night's would've been an interception."

What did we do to deserve this punishment.. seriously that Jimmy Graham non catch that was ruled a catch... to Rodgers getting poked in eye followed by Harrell fumble. Seriously wtf. Last week was enough.

Huge win, had to have it. Triplette has always been one of the WORST regular refs, so no surprise he was **** again today

the D finally got to face a great O and well....looked a lot like last year. Guys were open over the middle all day long, they converted an insanely high % of 3rd downs, including one drive where they converted a 3rd and 17 and a 3rd and 14. Just inexcusable. DL didn't generate much of a push

It's not easy shutting down a good offense, but the same problems we saw last year reared its ugly head again today. This D still has a long way to go

The O finally got it together though. The Rodgers INT was a great play by the DB in all honesty. The Graham Harrell fumble was just atrocious. Huge momentum shift right there. Big win though, big

now they go for 3 straight road games. The tough one is @ Hou. They have to go 2-1 in those 3 or better. CAn't afford too many more losses

What was the official ruling on that KO return fumble? I couldn't hear the broadcast. McCarthy wasted a challenge on that play with Jordy. I don't know who was giving him advice but that had no chance of being overturned. That red flag would have come in handy after that fumble.

On both long 3rd down conversions they only rushed three. You can get away with that against Cutler and Wilson but against Brees you will get eaten up. Saints targeted Shields a lot; still the weak link in the secondary.

Run defense still played well. Saints payed a lot of attention to Clay and nobody stepped up to take advantage.

Yeah, I am SICK of Capers going to that 3 man rush on 3rd and long against elite QB's. So dumb

he also played too much zone, which in turn caused communication/missed assignments and led to that long TD

Shields had been playing great the last 2 weeks, so I'll cut him some slack on that TD. It wasn't like he was just beat, he just thought he was going to get Safety help

These DB's strength is press/man coverage. Let them jam the WR's off the line/reroute them instead of just playing zone. Left all the underneath stuff wide open all over the field, especially the middle. The way Capers gameplans for elite QB's/offense maddens me

Yeah, I am SICK of Capers going to that 3 man rush on 3rd and long against elite QB's. So dumb

he also played too much zone, which in turn caused communication/missed assignments and led to that long TD

Shields had been playing great the last 2 weeks, so I'll cut him some slack on that TD. It wasn't like he was just beat, he just thought he was going to get Safety help

These DB's strength is press/man coverage. Let them jam the WR's off the line/reroute them instead of just playing zone. Left all the underneath stuff wide open all over the field, especially the middle. The way Capers gameplans for elite QB's/offense maddens me

It wasn't just that play where Shields underperformed yesterday...he was constantly the man that the Saints were targeting and was certainly a weak link throughout the game